The episode features an interview with professor Durval Dourado Neto, from the “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture (Esalq) in Piracicaba, coordinator of the Sustainable Tropical Agriculture Center (STAC).
“The center’s mission is to promote continuous interaction between USP units and public and private institutions, both in Brazil and abroad. To achieve this, STAC organizes and coordinates collaborative studies across complementary areas, developing strategic and innovative solutions aimed at the country’s prosperity through sustainable tropical agriculture. The goal is to produce diagnostics and forecasts focused on food security and food quality, as well as to propose strategic solutions for public policies, while compiling and synthesizing knowledge to define the state of the art in different technologies, providing services that contribute to the advancement of sustainable tropical agriculture,” said Dourado.
He explains how the work developed by researchers is structured: “We have several divisions: research; innovation and entrepreneurship; communication and outreach; international cooperation; biological pest control for agricultural sustainability; and a new business division. Currently, there are five research areas. The first is the domestication of macaúba, aiming at the production of sustainable aviation fuel. The second is the Brazil Green Seal, which seeks to create a national strategy for certification and conformity assessment of Brazilian products and services. The third project focuses on territorial intelligence and food security, as well as production efficiency with an emphasis on irrigated agriculture, aiming to increase Brazil’s current agricultural output by 40%. The fourth project, rural connectivity, involves the use of technologies to enhance production efficiency in rural areas. Finally, the fifth project is the recovery of degraded pastures, which aims to develop systems for optimizing agricultural production and mitigating climate change.”
The coordinator concludes by outlining expectations for the center’s future outcomes: “We hope STAC will become a hub for innovation in sustainable agricultural practices, developing new technologies and methodologies, working closely in global partnerships, and establishing itself as an important center for training and capacity building, preparing highly qualified professionals to work in different areas related to sustainable agriculture. We also expect STAC to influence the formulation of effective public policies, promoting agricultural practices that not only increase productivity but also improve quality of life. It is important to highlight that the center plans to engage in disseminating knowledge and best agricultural practices so that information reaches a broad audience, including small farmers and rural communities.”
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
